Light plane crashes near Melbourne in Australia

SYDNEY, Feb 21 (Reuters) - A small plane carrying five people crashed into a shopping center near an airport outside Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, on Tuesday and officials said an unknown number of people may have been killed.

A view from the tarmac at Melbourne's Essendon Airport is seen after a charter plane leaving the airport crashed on February 21, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. The charter plane was carrying 5 people when it crashed near the DFO Melbourne Shopping Centre at around 9am this morning. Emergency services are on scene.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

A general view shows damage to the building after a Beechcraft plane crashed into a shopping centre just after tack-off from the Essendon airport in Melbourne on February 21, 2017. A light aircraft carrying five people crashed on February 21 in a 'massive fireball', hitting a shopping centre near the Australian city of Melbourne and sending black smoke billowing into the air, witnesses and officials said.

A general view shows the wheel of a Beechcraft plane on a highway after it crashed into a shopping centre just after tack-off from the Essendon airport in Melbourne on February 21, 2017.
A light aircraft carrying five people crashed on February 21 in a 'massive fireball', hitting a shopping centre near the Australian city of Melbourne and sending black smoke billowing into the air, witnesses and officials said. / AFP / Mal Fairclough (Photo credit should read MAL FAIRCLOUGH/AFP/Getty Images)

A view from the tarmac at Melbourne's Essendon Airport is seen after a charter plane leaving the airport crashed on February 21, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. The charter plane was carrying 5 people when it crashed near the DFO Melbourne Shopping Centre at around 9am this morning. Emergency services are on scene.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

A plane carrying five people has crashed into a shopping centre next to the #Essendon Airport in Melbourne's north. https://t.co/RaOp3fx45V

A general view shows damage to the building after a Beechcraft plane crashed into a shopping centre just after tack-off from the Essendon airport in Melbourne on February 21, 2017. A light aircraft carrying five people crashed on February 21 in a 'massive fireball', hitting a shopping centre near the Australian city of Melbourne and sending black smoke billowing into the air, witnesses and officials said.

(MAL FAIRCLOUGH/AFP/Getty Images)

#BREAKING: An aircraft has crashed into a building near Essendon Airport in Melbourne. https://t.co/o1GHwzM07v https://t.co/dicXPTYBpX

Investigators stand near damage to the building after a Beechcraft plane crashed into a shopping centre just after tack-off from the Essendon airport in Melbourne on February 21, 2017.
A light aircraft carrying five people crashed on February 21 in a 'massive fireball', hitting a shopping centre near the Australian city of Melbourne and sending black smoke billowing into the air, witnesses and officials said. / AFP / Mal Fairclough (Photo credit should read MAL FAIRCLOUGH/AFP/Getty Images)

A view from the tarmac at Melbourne's Essendon Airport is seen after a charter plane leaving the airport crashed on February 21, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. The charter plane was carrying 5 people when it crashed near the DFO Melbourne Shopping Centre at around 9am this morning. Emergency services are on scene.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

Plane crash At DFO near #Essendon airport Just happened black smoke can be seen in Preston #Melbourne https://t.co/9Se0i587nG

A view from the tarmac at Melbourne's Essendon Airport is seen after a charter plane leaving the airport crashed on February 21, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. The charter plane was carrying 5 people when it crashed near the DFO Melbourne Shopping Centre at around 9am this morning. Emergency services are on scene.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

#Essendon https://t.co/PaJfZg7YEC

A view from the tarmac at Melbourne's Essendon Airport is seen after a charter plane leaving the airport crashed on February 21, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. The charter plane was carrying 5 people when it crashed near the DFO Melbourne Shopping Centre at around 9am this morning. Emergency services are on scene.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

The crash sparked a huge blaze, and the area has been evacuated https://t.co/VDbhcIQuET https://t.co/PW8T4JFEVI

A view from the tarmac at Melbourne's Essendon Airport is seen after a charter plane leaving the airport crashed on February 21, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. The charter plane was carrying 5 people when it crashed near the DFO Melbourne Shopping Centre at around 9am this morning. Emergency services are on scene.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

A plane has crashed on approach to Essendon Airport. https://t.co/mAVAMYNcDc

A general view shows damage to the building after a Beechcraft plane crashed into a shopping centre just after tack-off from the Essendon airport in Melbourne on February 21, 2017.
A light aircraft carrying five people crashed on February 21 in a 'massive fireball', hitting a shopping centre near the Australian city of Melbourne and sending black smoke billowing into the air, witnesses and officials said. / AFP / Mal Fairclough (Photo credit should read MAL FAIRCLOUGH/AFP/Getty Images)

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The network broadcast pictures showing smoke billowing from the shopping mall near Essendon airport, a small airfield close to Melbourne, and firefighters hosing down the burning wreckage.

Neville said five people were on board the plane, which was a charter flight to King Island in Bass Strait between the Australian mainland and the southern island state of Tasmania.